Read Between the Lines
by knowlee
Summary: Threeshot. It's strange how a simple task of reading a book together can alter the paths of two very different laguz causing them to come closer to each other. Kyza x Lyre. Slight mentions of Ranulf x Lethe.
1. Introduction

**knowlee**- Holy crap! Knowlee is alive! And writing fanfiction!

XD

Yes, I am alive and this little fanfiction is one that I've had running around in my head for the past couple of months. It's been practically screaming at me to write and to quench it I decided to go ahead and write it.

Anyway, like I mentioned in the summary for the story this shall be three chapters long. It was originally going to be a oneshot, but I decided that it would be too long for that and decided that I would fit it into three chapters. Also as an added bonus this pretty much guarantees that I'll get it done! Cause if it was any longer than this, well, let's just say that it might never get done... .

*ahem* Anyway, without futher ado, here's the fanfiction! I hope you enjoy it! :)

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Fire Emblem. Nor do I own Lyre or Kyza, or any other FE characters that appear in this story. I do however own the library girl character in this story.

* * *

**A Fire Emblem Fanfiction**

Read Between the Lines

Chapter 1: Introduction

By: knowlee

* * *

**_introduction_**_- 1. An introducing or being introduced, 2. anything introduced, or brought into use, knowledge, or fashion, **3. anything that introduces, or prepares the way for; specif., a) the preliminary section of a book, often having material considered essential to an understanding of the main text,** b) the preliminary part of a speech, treatise, etc., c) an opening section of a musical composition, d) a preliminary guide or text, 4. The formal presentation of one person to another, to an audience, to society, etc._

* * *

It was shortly after noon in Gallia. Various beast laguz went on about their business whether it was shopping for groceries to prepare for dinner, working hard to get a job done, seeing old friends, or for some laguz, they were just simply enjoying the beautiful day. For one particular laguz though instead of lounging about outside, he prefers to spend his time in the library reading.

Kyza had just gone on his lunch break and was attempting to spend it in peace and quiet. He had thought of going to the castle's cafeteria to sit down and enjoy his lunch there, but then thought better of it. It would simply be too loud and not to mention that he probably wouldn't get to relax at all during that short time period since he was pretty sure that a _certain_ cat laguz would be there and begin to pester him once she knew of his arrival.

He sighed and brought his right hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinched it in thought. Where could he go to prevent that situation from playing out? It wasn't that he didn't like the girl it was just that she did have a way of grating his nerves at times especially when she wouldn't leave him alone. When those situations came about it would then lead to them arguing over it and in some cases it could escalate to shouting. And of course that wasn't how he wanted to spend his precious time.

Speaking of time, he needed to find out where he would spend his break before the time that was allotted for it ran out. The tiger lowered his hand to his chin and rubbed it thinking. He wanted peace and quiet. What place in this castle gave that? He looked around for a bit hoping to get an idea and during his search he came across a book that was lying on a table. Suddenly it came to him.

The library! Of course! The library was perfect! A small smile formed on Kyza's face when he came to his conclusion. One of the most endearing qualities of a library was that it was quiet. Not to mention that he highly doubted that Lyre would ever go into that part of the castle. Quite frankly she didn't seem to be the reading type in his opinion. With that taken care of, Kyza set off for his destination.

It took a few minutes to reach the desired room but his patience was rewarded when the doorway to the library entered his line of sight once he reached the north side of the castle. He entered the open doorway and began to search the room for a spot to sit down and relax.

* * *

Lyre dumped the leftovers from her tray into the garbage. She had just finished eating and talking to her girlfriends about the latest gossip. She couldn't believe some of the things that she had heard from them. Some of the things she heard sounded unbelievable but some made you wonder if they were actually true. Clearing those thoughts from her head, she placed her now empty tray onto the shelf where the kitchen staff would pick it up for cleaning. With a wave to her friends, she left the room to find where she would spend the rest of her lunch break.

She walked into one of the hallways that was spread throughout the castle and began to walk towards the north side of the castle. She knew Ranulf's office was in that general area and she wanted to talk to him a bit before she ran out of time.

Her lips formed into a smile as she thought of the blue-haired captain. He was a cute, nice, and smart guy and every time she saw him her heart skipped a beat. She hoped he felt that way too when he was around her. If he did he hadn't shown or said anything about it. Maybe he was just shy…

Suddenly the open doorway to the library came into view. It was a sign that she was nearing Ranulf's office and she felt her heart skip a beat at the thought of being that close to seeing him again. When she neared the entrance, she peered inside just to see if the blue-haired cat happened to be in there before she continued on her path otherwise her little trip would have been for nothing. Well, she didn't see the captain, but she did see someone else she knew. And that person was none other than Kyza, the tiger she found herself constantly at odds with gaining Ranulf's attention.

What was Kyza doing in the library? She raised her eyebrow wondering why he would be there. He didn't seem to be the reading type or was he? She wasn't sure. Then a thought suddenly came to her as she read his body language to see that he was searching for something or maybe_ someone_. What if Kyza was searching for the captain in the library? Her eyes widened at the thought and gasped. If the captain was in the library why would he be looking for him? Knowing Kyza, it probably wouldn't be anything that benefited her in any way.

With that thought in mind, Lyre entered the library to find out exactly what the tiger was up to.

* * *

Kyza's gray eyes continued to search for an appropriate place to relax. He wanted it to be someplace secluded away that way if Lyre did happen to come here, (which he highly doubted) she wouldn't see him straight away unless she were to come inside and search thoroughly for him. He looked over to the left of the room and saw an area that looked like it could be a suitable relaxation spot. Perhaps it would suffice.

"Excuse me, sir?"

Suddenly a finger tapped on his shoulder causing him to turn around quickly. He half-expected it to be Lyre standing there except he knew that it wouldn't be the case seeing as she would make herself known in an entirely different way other than simply tapping on his shoulder. Instead it was a young short, brown-haired female cat laguz. She had glasses on her face and seemed to be dressed professionally. He wasn't entirely sure of who she was until she asked her next question.

"Do you need any help finding anything?" she asked him with a smile.

Realization dawned on him. She was the librarian.

He replied, "Oh, no thank you ma'am. I believe I've found what I was looking for."

She smiled again. "Okay then! Just let me know if you need any assistance in finding anything in the library."

He watched as she walked back to her desk and then he returned to he was doing before, only to find himself being interrupted again, this time though by the one person he was trying to avoid.

"Kyza! What are you doing here?"

He visibly flinched and then grimaced. Someone in the heavens surely must hate him. He turned around once more and saw the orange-haired laguz looking at him with what seemed to him to be irritation in her violet eyes. Perhaps she was irritated at him not being in the cafeteria? Something told him that this wasn't the case. A frown appeared on his face.

"Is there a particular reason why I'm not supposed to be here, Lyre?" he sardonically replied to her question while crossing his arms at the same time.

"No, I was just simply wondering why you were here, that's all." She replied while looking around the room at the same time.

He raised an eyebrow at her answer and wondered why she was looking around for something. He decided to ignore that for now and instead answered her question.

"For your information, Lyre, I came in here to relax during the remaining time I have for my break."

Relief suddenly came over her features and she looked back at Kyza with joy instead of the irritation she had when she first saw him. "Oh! Well, um, I happen to be on my break as well and I was about to go see Captain Ranulf. That was the reason why I asked why you were here. I thought that he might be in here."

He nodded at her reply. "Well, I regret to inform you then that he is not here. Not to mention that he's currently in a meeting right now with his Highness and won't be out for another hour or so."

"Oh…"

He saw Lyre's ears flatten on her head in sadness and a frown appear on her face at the knowledge she had just obtained. He felt somewhat sorry for the cat, but at the same time he felt a bit triumphant that he had foiled her from seeing Captain Ranulf. And also, strangely he might add, he found it to look a bit cute. Kyza nearly choked on the air he was breathing at that thought. _Now where did that thought come from?_

Kyza had no time to ponder over the thought because apparently Lyre got over her sadness and he came to this conclusion since her ears went back to their original position and the frown disappeared from her face. He watched as she narrowed her eyes at the open air and mumbled something under her breath that vaguely sounded like: "Well, there goes my highlight of the day…"

She then looked back up at him with a questioning look in her eyes. "Well, since I can't spend time with the captain then, can I stay here with you in the library?"

If it wasn't for Kyza's excellent sense of self-control, he would've had a panic attack right then and there. This was precisely the reason why he had searched for a quiet place to stay during his break. He didn't wish to have Lyre interrupt it with her constant prattle and of course he wished to be alone.

While attempting to keep anger out of his voice, he replied to her request, "Forgive me for saying so, Lyre, but to be honest I wish to be left alone at the moment. I need to have peace and quiet."

Lyre replied back with, her voice rising just a tiny bit, "Excuse me, but this is a library. It's going to have peace and quiet no matter what. And not to mention that I'm not going to bother you, I just want to have someone to hang out with until my break time is up."

Kyza growled in irritation and brought his right hand up to the bridge of his nose. Apparently she wasn't getting the message. He would have to be blunt with her.

"Lyre, once again, forgive me for saying so, but the whole reason why I came here to the library was to prevent this exact thing from occurring. Perhaps what I need to say is this: I wish to be alone right now and being alone constitutes that you're not here _at all._"

Apparently he got his point across clearly because the cat was clearly furious and her eyes were giving him a glare that would terrify anyone else if it was its intended target. With a mixture of fury and hurt in her voice she shot these words back at him, "Well _forgive_ me for just simply asking a question and please allow me to go ahead and remove the _problem_!"

With that said she quickly spun on her heel and stormed out of the library. Kyza sighed after she left. Leave it to Lyre to create dramatics. He suddenly felt guilty though. She was right in saying that she was just asking a question and that he had no right to reply to her in that tone for doing so. He growled again. He didn't know why he felt so easily riled up around her. If it were anyone else, he would just ignore them and be done with it. Obviously he found it difficult to do that with her.

He looked back over to the exit to the library that Lyre just left thought. Perhaps he should apologize to her. Hopefully though when he attempted to do so she wouldn't try to claw his eyes out, but this was Lyre he was talking about so he highly doubted it. With another sigh, he headed towards the exit to find her.

* * *

Stupid Kyza! To say Lyre was upset was an understatement! She was furious! How dare he speak that way to her! All she had simply asked was to hang out with him until her break was up. Was that too much to ask? Apparently it was in Kyza's eyes. She growled. Darn that tiger! Well if he wanted to act that way, fine! She would just stay out of his way as long as he wanted her to. She didn't need him.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her wrist tugging her back. She jerked around quickly to find out who it was trying to get her attention. Her anger grew even more to find out that it was none other than Kyza.

Her fur stood on up on end and she hissed at him while yanking her wrist out of his grasp, "What do you want?"

He sighed and she could see guilt on his face, but she was too angry to acknowledge it. "Lyre, please allow me to apologize-"

"Why should I? I think you made it quite clear back there what it is that you want! I'm just giving it to you!" Lyre cut him off.

Other beast laguz had noticed the growing argument between the two laguz. Some had stopped to watch and others just shook their heads and went on about their business. To them this was an everyday thing, it wasn't anything new. The argument between the two continued to grow until finally Lyre had enough of it and started to walk around him and continue on towards the direction that the two laguz had just come from. Kyza noticed this and prevented her from continuing her path by once again grasping Lyre's wrist and turning her around to look him.

"Lyre, listen to me for once! I am sorry for how I acted back there. It was unkind of me to do so and for that I apologize. Please let me make it up to you by allowing you to join me in the library."

Lyre's eyes were still giving him a glare. Why should she listen to him? He said those horrible things to her! She shouldn't forgive him! Then she noticed the sincere look of guilt he had on his face. Kyza never had that look on his face. Or at least when he did, he never let her see it; let alone let her be the one it was directed to. The glare slowly disappeared from her face. Kyza loosed his grip on her wrist once he saw that. She then pouted and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Fine. You're forgiven."

She saw a look of relief come over the tiger's face. Apparently dealing with an angry Lyre terrified him. She inwardly smiled. To tell the truth it should. She knew how scary she could get when she felt like that. She couldn't blame him for feeling that way.

She heard him sigh, "Well then, shall we head back to the library?"

She allowed herself to smile. She didn't have any reason to be angry at him anymore. "Sure!"

* * *

Kyza and Lyre re-entered the library. He was at a loss as to what to do with Lyre. Obviously since they were in a library he should help her find something to read otherwise she would get bored with just sitting down. He sighed and turned around to face her.

"Do you have any particular types of books that you favor more than others? Or do you even read?"

He saw Lyre give him a slight glare at the somewhat back-handed comment he had made towards her, but apparently she decided to let it slide since she answered his question with having any trace of anger in her voice, "Of course I read, Kyza. Maybe not as much as you probably do, but I do read and yes I do have a favorite type: its romance."

He nearly chuckled at this. He figured that romance would be her favorite. It was quite obvious.

"So what is your favorite?"

Her words brought him out of his thoughts. "What?"

"I asked: what's your favorite?" she replied to him with a tiny bit of annoyance evident, "Oh, let me guess! It's history!"

At this he did chuckle. "Well I do like history, but there are few other types such as classic literature as well as some things located in the fiction section. Also I do a have certain fondness for Shakespeare's works."

"Shakespeare?" He saw Lyre cock her head to the side in confusion. Once again he found himself thinking that she looked cute while doing so. _Where in goddess' name were these thoughts coming from?_

"Yes, Shakespeare was a beorc who lived quite a long time ago. He wrote many plays during his lifetime. His works consisted of different subjects which included tragedy, comedy, and historical occurrences. Although those historical things he writes about I think are about another world entirely seeing as none of the things I read in those particular pieces of work are about anything that occurred in Tellius."

"Oh. Sounds interesting! Is there any of his stuff that you'd think I'd like?" Lyre asked him.

Kyza found himself shocked. He didn't think Lyre would be interested in those kinds of works, but he reminded himself that he shouldn't be too surprised. Lyre had been known to surprise him when he least expected it many times before; two of those times occurred during the past couple of minutes.

"Well, there might be a few things he has written that could appeal to your liking." The tiger replied to her.

He looked around the room to find the classical literature section. Once it came into his line of sight he motioned to Lyre for her to follow him. Lyre began to walk behind him as they made their way towards the designated area. Kyza found himself glancing back to make certain that she was indeed following him and indeed she was. While she was following him though he noticed that she was looking at the books that were lining the shelves of the other sections of the library. She was obviously enamored by it.

He removed his eyes from her and strangely found himself smiling. It was then that he noticed that they had reached the classical literature section.

"He we are." He announced.

Suddenly he felt something bump into him. He maneuvered his head around to see that it was Lyre that who had done that. Apparently she was so enthralled by the other books that she hadn't noticed he'd stopped.

"Oops. Sorry!" She grinned in embarrassment.

He nodded his forgiveness and then began to search the shelves for Shakespeare's works. Once he located the aforementioned books, he began to read their titles to find one that might keep Lyre's attention. His gray eyes roamed over the titles searching for one to suggest to the orange-haired cat standing behind him. _Hmm…_ _Ah!_ His eyes lit up when he found a title that he knew would be something she'd read.

"Ah, here we are!" he said as he reached for the book in question. "Romeo and Juliet. I'm entirely certain that this will be something you would like seeing as it is a romance story although it's rather tragic. I won't go into too much detail seeing as you haven't read it before and would probably like to find out the story on your own."

"Oh!" Lyre grabbed the book from his hands and he watched as she leafed through the pages. He noticed when she pouted. "Looks like a lot of pages to read. Not to mention that the writing is all weird. It sounds like how you usually speak except more wordy."

Kyza gave her a pointed look at her last statement.

"Not to say that how you speak is bad! What I'm saying is that you speak a lot clearer than this book does." Kyza removed his look at this apparent apology she was giving.

"Well, Shakespeare does have a way with drawing out conversations I will say, but with the way he does write it gives a chance for the reader to, how you say, read between the lines and figure out what point he's trying to get across." He replied to her.

"Oh, I see."

The tiger watched as Lyre looked back down at the book and began to attempt to read the book aloud. "_Two households, both alike in dignity,__ In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,__ From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,__ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean._"

He noticed that she began to furrow her brows together as she continued to read. From what he could ascertain about that slight motion, she clearly didn't understand what the author was trying to say.

"Oh! I don't know what the heck this means!" she said frustratingly and just a little bit too loudly he might add.

"Shh!"

He and Lyre jerked their heads towards the librarian he had run into earlier. She had her finger up to her lips to remind them, or in this case, _her_ to be quiet. He looked back over at Lyre to see that she had a slight blush appearing on her face.

"Oops! Sorry!" Lyre said to the librarian and then turned back around to face him once more.

Kyza found himself chuckling at the situation. Lyre raised an eyebrow at this. He raised his fist to his mouth and coughed. He then took the book from Lyre's grasp and looked over at her.

"Perhaps I should read and after every few sentences or so I can translate what the words are trying to say. Does that sound alright?" Kyza asked the cat.

A smile appeared on Lyre's face. "Sure! Sounds fine to me!"

Kyza nodded and found himself smiling back. He quickly began to search for a place to sit. He felt more comfortable reading when he was sitting down. A table and two chairs came into his view. It was perfect.

"How about we go and sit down? Quite frankly, I'd rather be sitting down reading than standing up."

"Okay!" Lyre replied in the same happy tone she had used during her last reply to him.

He and Lyre headed over to the table and proceeded to occupy the chairs sitting next to it. He reopened the book and turned to the page that Lyre was reading off of earlier. He found his spot and then began to read:

"_Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean._ _From forth the fatal loins of these two foes__, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;__ Whose misadventured piteous overthrows__, Do with their death bury their parents' strife.__ The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,__ And the continuance of their parents' rage,__ Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,__ Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;__ The which if you with patient ears attend,__ What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend._"

Kyza looked over at Lyre who was looking attentively at him. He began to translate what Shakespeare had wrote, "Now what he said here was…"

* * *

Ranulf sighed as he left the meeting he had with Skrimir. He had been trying to go over all the details of what needed to be done in Gallia with him. Needless to say it didn't get very far before their attention was diverted to other matters when a messenger came in with an urgent message from one of the border patrols.

After the two had read the report, Ranulf decided that it was best that they postpone the meeting until later on and had Skrimir begin to write a message to relay back to the receiving border patrol while he went on to find Lethe to discuss with her who should be sent to support them. He was about a quarter of the way to his destination when he saw something that literally made him stop in his tracks.

His eyes widened as he took in the sight. _Kyza and Lyre were sitting next to each other? And they weren't attempting to claw each other's eyes out?_

Ranulf was sure he was seeing things, but when he looked closer he realized that sure enough it was the two laguz. So he wasn't seeing things. But now he was curious. How on Tellius did they manage to get along like that? Normally they were at each other's throats and had to have someone break them apart; most of the time it being either himself or Lethe.

_'Well, this sure is interesting.'_ he thought. Ranulf looked away from the sight and continued on his path. Lethe wasn't going to believe him when he told her about this!

* * *

Lyre listened as Kyza finished explaining another part of the book. From what she had heard of the story, it was good. She couldn't understand exactly what it was that the author was saying at first but when Kyza explained it, it did begin to make more sense. Kyza's next words brought her out of her thoughts.

"I believe our lunch hour is over. Perhaps we can continue this at some other time?" the tiger spoke while he glanced at the window showing that the sun had moved down a good bit.

"Oh! Is it over already? That was fast!" Lyre replied. She strangely felt disappointed at the realization. That was odd.

She had no time to ponder over the feeling because she heard Kyza chuckle. "Indeed! So I suppose we can continue this later when we have more time to do so. Of course, assuming that you want to continue?" the tiger raising his eyebrow at the question.

Lyre could feel her cheeks getting a little warm. Kyza sure was acting nicer than usual. She was also surprised that he actually wanted to continue doing this, seeing as usually they couldn't stand to be in each other's presence for long. "Oh, s-sure! When would be a good time for you?"

She watched as Kyza brought his hand to his chin in thought. "Hmm… Perhaps tomorrow afternoon after both of our shifts is over?" He looked over at her.

"Oh! Sure, that's fine!" she smiled. Then she thought of the book. "So if we're going to continue reading this, do we need to check the book out that way we can make sure no one else gets it when we're not here?"

Kyza replied back to her as his eyes went down to look at the book, "Yes, it probably would be best. Would you like to check it out or shall I?" His eyes looked back over at her.

Lyre smiled, "I will. Besides you probably need to get back quicker than I do. Your break started earlier than mine did I'm pretty sure of it."

Kyza chuckled. "Indeed it did. Well with that taken care of, I shall be off then. See you tomorrow."

Lyre smiled back at the tiger once more. "Alright, bye!"

She watched as he left the library and then stood up to head towards the librarian's desk to check out the book. Once she got there she saw the same brown-headed librarian waiting for her.

"Oh, hi! I'd like to check this book out please!" she smiled towards the woman as she placed the book onto the desk.

"Of course! I'll take care of it." She watched as the librarian picked up the book and began to write down the necessary words. "Your name, please?"

"Oh! It's Lyre." She watched as the librarian wrote her name down onto the paper showing who had the book in their possession.

After the cat had written down her name, she handed the book back to Lyre. "Alright, here you go. The book is due two weeks from today! I hope you enjoy reading it!"

"Thank you!" Lyre replied back to the woman.

Now with the book back in her hands, Lyre placed the book into her bag that was tied to her waist and began walking to where her squad was located since her break was nearing its end. As she continued on, she found herself thinking back over the time she spent with Kyza in the library. It was strange because she actually found it to be actually enjoyable. Usually she couldn't stand to be in his presence for too long without them ending up arguing with each other.

Maybe this happened to be one of those rare moments when they actually didn't fight with each other she mused. _Well, we'll see how long it lasts, I guess…_

* * *

**knowlee**- I know that I got a little bit lazy there at the end, but I will go and fix that when I have more time to do so.

I hope I got the characterization right and everything. It's my first time writing a Fire Emblem fanfic, so yeah... I'm bound to have made some mistakes.

Please read and review telling me what you guys thought and if I made any mistakes in here, please point them out for me. I would like to be able to improve my writing and get better in the future! Thank you! :)

Definition came from the dictionary and the Romeo and Juliet excerpts came from this website: shakespeare. mit. edu (without spaces)


	2. Body

knowlee- Hi guys! I know that it's been a while since I last wrote an entry for this little story, but I will tell you that it was on my list of things to do. I'm a procrastinator at nature and sometimes it's hard for me to work on something unless I'm really motivated or really want to work on it. But this story was nagging at me to continue with it and I really wanted to hurry up and get the next installment in.

I hope I did alright with the characterizations and everything. I know in this story you can tell that both Kyza and Lyre have changed somewhat regarding their interactions with each other and I tried to keep those changes as believable and as reasonable as possible. I mean they're still them even though they've gotten closer to each other!

And also I took some creative liberties with the characters and gave them characteristics that weren't explicitly shown in the game. I mean, they didn't really give us much to go on as far as what the characters do in their spare time or certain personality quirks, but I tried to find activities and certain things that each character would do that I felt fit their personality.

Well, anyway without further ado, (and before I give away any more spoilers!), here's the story! :)

As always please review afterwards to let me know what you think. And also the definition came from the dictionary.

**DISCLAIMER:** I do NOT own Fire Emblem. Nor do I own Kyza or Lyre, or any other FE characters that appear in this story. I do however own the Sarah, Belle, and Toby characters that appear in this chapter.

* * *

**A Fire Emblem Fanfiction**

Read Between the Lines

Chapter 2: Body

By: knowlee

* * *

_**body**__- 1. the whole physical structure and substance of a human being, animal, or plant…8. the main or central part of anything; specif., a) the part of an automobile, truck, etc. that holds the load of passengers; the part of a vehicle that is not the chassis, b) the hull of a ship, c) the fuselage of an aircraft, __**d) the main part of a piece of writing as distinguished from headings and introductory or supplementary matter**__, e) the sound box of a stringed instrument…_

* * *

About two and a half months have passed since Kyza and Lyre began their daily readings together. The first time they did the reading, they thought that it was only going to be something that they did just once and that it was to help speed their lunch break along much faster. What neither of them foresaw was that it would last as long as it did.

What began as a simple decision between the two slowly became something that they both found themselves bonding over. They had began their meetings in the library and soon the two found themselves becoming more comfortable and less hostile around each other enough for them to start inviting each other into their respective homes to continue the reading sessions.

Yes, things have changed for the better for the two and their relationship has grown stronger. The one thing that stands in their way is the simple fact that neither of them has really actually noticed how close they have become…

* * *

Lyre dug her fork into the piece of fish that she had cut from her meal lying in front of her. She was currently on her lunch break and was eating in the castle's cafeteria. She raised the food to her mouth and ate the piece of seafood. As she lowered the fork back to her plate she caught a glance at the book that was sitting next to it. She smiled. She couldn't wait until tonight's reading session. They were currently halfway through the book they had been reading to each other for the past few weeks and it was getting to a really good part. Lyre felt her smile grow a little bit wider as her thoughts continued. She found her mind being pulled away from those thoughts though when a couple of her good friends came over to sit with her and eat.

"Oh, hi! I didn't realize that you guys were working today." she said to them.

"Yeah, we've got surveillance duty today. We have to help keep a look out for intruders later on tonight." One of them, Sarah, told her.

"Yeah, it's going to be boring, but oh well, someone's gotta do it and besides we're getting paid so we really can't complain." Belle, her other friend, added.

Lyre nodded in response to their words. "I will admit that it is boring, but the pay is good."

The two girls sat down across from Lyre and they began their ritual of talking about the latest gossip that was going around Castle Gallia. The three girls continued to talk animatedly about the subject until one of them noticed the book that was sitting on the table next to Lyre.

"So I'm guessing that you are still doing the 'book reading thing' with Kyza?" Belle said to Lyre while motioning to the book.

Lyre glanced over at the book and then back to her friend as a smile formed on her face. "Yes, I'm actually going over to his house tonight so we can get to the next chapter. It's getting to a really good part."

"Uh-huh…"

Lyre saw her two friends quickly glance at one another. After doing so Sarah said to her, "Are you sure guys aren't seeing each other? Cause I know you said that you weren't, but-"

Lyre immediately felt her cheeks grow warm. "Y-yes, I'm sure we're not seeing each other! Well, I mean yes, we're seeing each other, b-but not like you're implying!"

"Really? Cause honestly it looks like it." Belle replied.

"What do you mean?" Lyre asked as she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. Why would anyone think that she and Kyza were seeing each other? I mean yes, they hung out with each other a lot, but that was just for book reading stuff. They were just friends after all. Friends don't see each other in the way that her two friends were thinking.

"'What do you mean?' Are you serious?! Have you not noticed _anything_ different lately about the interactions between you two? Not to mention that I've see you and him give each other 'the look'. Heck, I'm surprised that you two aren't already seeing each other with the way you two act when the other is around!" Sarah replied to Lyre's question.

"I haven't noticed anything different. And what do you mean that we give each other 'the look'? I haven't done that." Lyre glared at her two friends. Honestly they must've been seeing things. There was no way that she and Kyza were like that.

Belle sighed. "Lyre, listen to us for a few minutes while we explain. We wouldn't come to this conclusion unless we believed that it was true. We've noticed lately that ever since you and him started your daily readings, as you call it, the way you two have acted towards each other has slowly changed. Instead of bickering and being at each other's throats all day, you guys actually get along. Neither of us can really recall you having an argument or at least not having an argument that wasn't over something petty and ridiculous."

"Not to mention," she continued, "whenever you talk about him now it's not filled with words about how much you 'hate him' or how annoying he is. You actually _talk_ about him now. Like for instance the other day you told us that he knew how to cook and that you never knew that about him. Instead of talking bad about him, you actually were _praising_ him and saying good things about his food that he made and how you could never reach his cooking skill. Granted that you did say some good things about him before like how he was a good friend at times and all that, but you never talked about him like you have recently. Also, getting to 'the look' part we mentioned, whenever you talk about him you get this distant look on your face and you start talking animatedly about him. You know that look Sarah gets when she talks about her boyfriend Toby? That's the same look you get. Not to mention whenever you do talk about him or whenever he is mentioned at all, you touch that charm that he got you about a month or so ago. Plus I don't recall you not wearing it since you got it."

Lyre stopped for a moment and looked down at the charm that she was currently touching with her fingers. It was a beautiful flower charm that Kyza had gotten her as a 'thank you' gift for when she patched up one of his suits with her sewing skills. She knew Belle was right when she said that she never took it off since then. Well, she did when she went to sleep at night, but she still wore it every day. But still that didn't mean that she liked him like that.

Lyre replied back to Belle's comments, "I will admit that that's true, but still that doesn't mean that-"

"And besides," Sarah interrupted her, "tell us: when was the last time you thought about Ranulf? Belle and I haven't heard you mention him _once_ since about maybe two weeks after this reading thing started."

Lyre froze at that comment. She furrowed her eyebrows as it dawned on her that she hadn't really been thinking all that much about Ranulf lately. Come to think of it she didn't think of him at all or at least not in the way that she used to think of him. In fact, Lyre felt her face grow warm at this, the way that she _used_ to feel towards Ranulf she now was experiencing around Kyza!

Lyre gasped and raised her hands to her mouth in realization, "Oh, no…! How did this happen?!"

Sarah smiled at Lyre's reaction and she noticed that she was trying hard not to laugh, "Honey, feelings like that usually develop when we are least expecting it. You can't control emotions like that easily. Besides it was bound to happen with the way you guys were hanging out with each other like you are."

Lyre lowered her gaze towards the table and removed her hands from her mouth. "How can I stop this feeling from growing?"

"Do you want it to stop?" Belle asked Lyre.

Lyre furrowed her eyebrows once more. Did she really want it to stop? She thought about all the fun times she shared with Kyza ever since they began the reading sessions. She learned a lot of things about him during that time and he learned a lot of things around her. She enjoyed being in his company and she trusted him more than she ever did before. Not to mention she did find herself happier than she had ever been with Ranulf. And now that she thought about it, she never did truly spend time with him like she did with Kyza. In hindsight she had realized that what she had for Ranulf was a crush. It could have possibly developed into something more had they been able to spend time with one another, but he never did ask her out anywhere nor did he give her any hints that he possessed the same feelings towards her.

Her and Kyza, on the other hand, had spent time with each other. Although granted that that if it wasn't for that little fight they had back then this never would have happened. They would still be in the same position they where two and half months ago where they still bickered with each other and she was still pining for Ranulf. So did she really want it to stop? In her heart she knew what the answer was.

"No, I don't." Lyre answered.

Both her friends in front of her smiled.

"We were hoping you'd say that." Belle said.

"Now we have to find a way that you'd be able to let Kyza know what you're feeling." Sarah added to Belle's comment while rubbing her chin in thought.

Lyre felt her face grow warm once more. "What?! I can't do that! What if he doesn't feel the same? I don't want to ruin what friendship we currently have."

"See that's another reason why we know the feelings you're having for Kyza are real and much deeper when compared to those you were experiencing with Ranulf. With Ranulf you were practically throwing yourself at him trying to get his attention; with Kyza you're more hesitant and are genuinely expressing your fears of ruining what connection you have. Not to mention you doubt that Kyza feels the same when you were so sure that Ranulf loved you." Belle responded to Lyre's slight outburst.

Lyre started to respond back to Belle's observation when Sarah spoke out first, "Oh, I got it!" Both Lyre and Belle looked over at her, "You can let him know tonight at the reading session you're having."

"How exactly would I do that?" Lyre looked over at her friend with a confused look on her face.

"Well either you can tell him by actually speaking your feelings," Sarah started, "or you could, I dunno, kiss him." Sarah looked over at Lyre with a mischievous grin.

"Kiss him?!" Lyre said this apparently too loudly because there were some people on other tables nearby that looked over at them with curious looks on their faces.  
Lyre blushed again and in her nervousness she began tugging at her hair. "I don't know…"

Belle reached over and grabbed her hand in support. "Lyre, would you rather continue waiting around to see what happens and risk the chance of possibly losing a chance at something more or would you like to see if something more could come out of this? We understand your hesitance about it. Quite honestly we'd be the same way too if we were in your position, but at least think about it. We don't want you to miss something that could be good for you and for him too."

Belle then removed her hand from Lyre's and stood up. Lyre looked up at her while Belle spoke, "Well, I wish we could stay longer, but our shift is starting soon."

Sarah finished eating her fish and stood up next to Belle. "Be sure to tell us what you decided when you see us next and also good luck on whatever you decide."

The two cats gathered their trays and headed over to the garbage bins leaving Lyre alone with her thoughts. Lyre sighed and looked over at the book sitting next to her tray. What was she going to do? She knew that they had a point to why they were telling her to tell him of how she felt, but at the same time she couldn't help but worry that he might return her feelings.

Sighing again, Lyre stood up and gathered her tray and book. After throwing her trash in the garbage and placing the tray with the others to be picked up, she exited the cafeteria. She knew she'd have to decide on what to do soon though about her feelings for Kyza. The time was getting close for them to have tonight's reading session and she knew that now that she realized these feelings for him that it'd make the session quite difficult. She was nervous about it, but at the same time she was excited. Maybe she should tell him…

She sighed again. She needed to figure out what she was going to do soon.

* * *

The shrill sound of whistling came to Kyza's ears as he was setting the small table in front of the couch. He quickly turned around began to make his way towards the small stove he had where upon it was a kettle that making the noise he was hearing. Upon reaching the stove he grabbed a hotpad off of the nearby counter and quickly removed the kettle from the heat and placed it on a cooling rack that was sitting on the counter. He covered up the open eye on the stove and then proceeded to get the teacups ready for the tea.

He grabbed a couple of mugs from his cupboard and placed green tea leaves into them. He picked up the kettle once more using the hotpad and poured the hot water into the respective teacups. After that was done he returned the kettle to its cooling rack. Once he placed the hot tea cups onto their saucers, he picked them up and carried them over to the table. As he placed them onto the table the smell of the tea dispersed into the air and allowed him to smell its scent. A smile formed on his face as the smell reminded him of Lyre.

Lyre was quite fond of green tea. He had noticed this during their reading sessions when he would prepare tea for them to drink when the other was reading their part. She had vaguely mentioned that green tea was her favorite during one of those sessions. Since then every time there was a session taking place at his place of residence he would make sure that he was sufficiently stocked on green tea leaves so that way she would be able to enjoy her favorite drink during her time here. He wasn't quite sure of why he did it. He just knew that it made her feel happy to be able to drink something that she liked.

With that smile still on his face he continued to finish setting up for the session. He knew that Lyre would be arriving soon and he needed to make sure everything was ready. He quickly scanned the area that they would be occupying to see if anything was missing. Tea; check, napkins; check, book…the book wasn't there. Frowning, he looked back over to his bookshelf and noticed the aforementioned book was still in its place. He walked over to the bookshelf and removed the book and brought it back over to the table. He smiled. Now everything was ready.

Suddenly he heard a knock at the door. Since he was only expecting one person, he automatically knew who it was. He walked over to the door and opened it. Just as he predicted it was Lyre.

"Hello, Lyre! How are you doing this evening?" He said to her with some happiness seeping into his voice.

The smile that appeared on Lyre's face warmed his heart and made her look even more beautiful. He returned the smile she was giving and opened the door further to allow her access inside.

"I'm doing fine, Kyza." Lyre replied back as she walked inside. As he closed the door he heard her breathe in deeply. Obviously she smelled the tea. He found his smile growing bigger at this observation.

"Is that green tea I smell?" she asked as she walked over to sit on the couch. He could notice her eyes were twinkling with delight when she realized that it in fact was green tea.

He watched as she picked up the teacup and after blowing on it took a sip. Another smile appeared on her face as she set the cup back down onto its saucer and looked back up at him. "It tastes great!"

He chuckled slightly. "Why, thank you! Those are fresh tea leaves that I bought today when I was in the market. I was out of them and I knew you liked them so naturally I bought some more."

He saw Lyre's eyes slightly widen at what he said. He furrowed his eyebrows. Was something wrong?

"Lyre…? Why are looking at me like that? Is there something wrong?" he asked, concerned.

Lyre looked away from him and began to rummage in her bag she had with her. "Oh! It's nothing! I-I just remembered something that I needed to get later."

Kyza raised an eyebrow at this. He knew she was lying to him. She never looked a person in the eye when she lied. He momentarily debated on whether or not to press further with his curiosity, but he decided against it. If she wanted to tell him something she would. He couldn't force her to tell him. That was her decision to make. As he came to this conclusion, Lyre finished looking through her bag and brought out her copy of the book they were reading.

"Ah, here we are!" she announced as she pulled the book from the bag and held it in her hands. "With everything I carry in there, I wouldn't be surprised if it disappeared in there!" She laughed at this.

Kyza returned the laugh. "Indeed."

Lyre smiled and then opened up the book to the place she had marked and looked back over at him. "So who's gonna read first? Me or you?"

Kyza picked up his book and turned to the same page. "I believe I shall begin this time. Unless you wish to start?" He looked over at her.

"Ah, no, that's fine. You can start if you want." Lyre answered.

Kyza nodded and looked back down at the book. "As you wish."

Kyza began to speak aloud the words that were written on the pages of the book that was in his hands. As he spoke them, he slowly found himself becoming engrossed into the story and could picture the events described in the book happening in his mind. As he read each paragraph on the pages he could practically feel each letter that comprised the words leave his lips. Soon he had reached the end of the chapter and felt himself come out of his vision of the events of the story.

"Alright, Lyre it's your turn."

He turned towards her. A confused expression fell over his face as he saw her staring at him. He furrowed his eyebrows. Something had to be wrong and this time he was going to find out what it was.

"Lyre, what's the mat-?"

His eyes widened. Before he could finish his question, Lyre had leaned towards him with such speed that it surprised him. What had surprised him more though was the fact that she was _kissing_ him! Before his mind could truly register what had happened though, Lyre quickly drew away. He found himself feeling oddly disappointed at this and before he could ask Lyre why she had done what she did, she quickly gathered her things, apologized to him, and left.

He looked down at the floor after Lyre had left from his house and took a few minutes to process exactly what had happened. She had kissed him! His brain and heart went over that piece of knowledge with giddiness and pure joy. He didn't know why she did it, but he knew deep down that he wasn't upset at that fact that she did it.  
Then he thought of the look on her face when she pulled away. He frowned in realization. During that short fleeting moment he could see that she held a look of fear in her eyes. But what exactly was she afraid of? His reaction?

He sighed as he turned his light of sight towards the door that Lyre had exited in a rush. He wasn't entirely sure of what happened but he knew that the only way he was going to find out was by asking her.


End file.
